Back at Grimsby on the August Bank Holiday Monday, after a 4-1 defeat, Cox was fuming.

At Cambridge United, after a defeat of the same scoreline, the frustration was obvious in the manager.

The biggest question was how was this happening?

A team so solid last season as they finished third in the Blue Square Premier was suddenly folding like a pack of cards when the heat was on.

As it kept happening following a summer of rebuilding his squad, Cox took action and stripped his squad back down to just over 20 players involved in first-team training.

Five games on, all without defeat, and the manager cuts a different figure as he speaks to the press after matches.

A draw with Luton on Sunday was a solid point but it could easily have been a victory as Stags put in another good performance.

But he wasn't upset by a point, he was just happy that under a big test, the new-found togetherness saw his side fightback.

The dressing room is getting back to what it was last season and, as they head to Macclesfield for their re-arranged game tonight, he hopes they can take another step in the right direction.

Cox said: "The team at the moment, we are getting that spirit and desire back which we had last season.

"There is a honesty with this bunch now and they come in the dressing room and we know we can perform and get consistent results.

"Over the last five games nobody can question our desire. What we are doing is looking like a cohesive unit and there is a hunger and desire there and the most impotant thing is that togetherness.

"The boys are running for each other, fighting for each other and when that starts happening in a group of players, it is a very hard formula to break down.

"There is a lot more to come from us. We are not shouting from the rooftops as we did not win against Luton but you can just feel there is something in us at the moment – a willingness to do all the horrible stuff.

"We just need that consistent end product."

Matt Green, last season's 30-goal top scorer, came off the bench to score the late equaliser for Mansfield – his first strike in ten weeks.

He might have to settle for the bench again this evening, alongside this season's top marksman Jake Speight, who has eight goals.

Ben Hutchinson and Nick Wright have taken their chance in recent games with Cox reluctant to make unforced changes.

But he knows the pair will soon be terrifying defences – whether that be off the bench or from the start.

The Stags boss said: "Speighty has come on and looked sharp, Greeny came on and looked sharp and that is a big positive.

"With Greeny it was a scenario where the harder he tried, the tougher it got. I maintained faith in him and we have two potential 25 goals a season strikers, with him and Speight, and what we need now is both to start hitting that bit of form.

"Wrighty has done well and Hutch has been playing out of his skin so I have to give them credit.

"We are looking to unleash them two at some point and if we can start scoring consistently, we are looking solid, so we will get consistent results.

"We are settling into a system now and we have a nice system that suits us. I have had a chat with Greeny and Speight and they are champing at the bit to get back in there.

"Greeny I have had to put my arm round his shoulder and love him a bit.

"At some point we will let them off their leash and when we do, I hope we score the goals."

But Cox believes they can build on that solid point against Luton, when they took the lead through Hutchinson before going behind until Green's late equaliser.

"It was nice for Greeny to get that monkey off his back," said Cox. "I actually thought we were going to score more goals at the end.

"We had to throw caution to the wind and ended up with three strikers.

"I thought we defended well, there were some good individual performances and more importantly, a good team performance. I thought the lads were unlucky not to get the three points.

"Shane (Redmond) is disappointed with the first goal but saying that, it is a scenario where he is getting his confidence back and getting a run of games in goal. It happens.

"I am not going to dig anybody out but the group win and lose together and there is something growing in the dressing room and that is a positive for me."

A frustrated Paul Buckle felt it was two points dropped rather than one gained after the Town were held to a 2-2 draw at Mansfield.

Despite trailing to a Ben Hutchinson header the Hatters fought back to lead 2-1 thanks to two goals from Andre Gray.

But the Town switched off at a set-piece five minutes from time and Stags substitute Matt Green earned the hosts a point - leaving the boss to reflect on his side's inability to deal with balls into the box once more.

"It's two points dropped," said Buckle afterwards. "We'd weathered the storm and recovered well from a sloppy start.

"The defenders haven't done their job and it's disappointing because Mansfield should have been dead and buried by then.

"We've had three really good chances; Andre's in the first half, Janos Kovacs' header - which hit Ronnie Henry on the line - and Jake Howells, who, if he'd taken it a bit further in, you'd expect him to score.

"We need to be solid and stronger and I'm massively disappointed we haven't taken the three points but there was a lot on show today which would suggest to me that we can go on another run.

"In the end we've only got ourselves to blame because we were consistently fouling. I was shouting from the sidelines 'don't get caught' and in the end we've been punished. We've been beaten at the back post for the header across goal and nobody's reacted to it.

"There was no real quality about what Mansfield were doing, we just couldn't defend what was thrown in there.

"It's even more frustrating when you come off the pitch and note that Mark Tyler's barely had a shot to save.

"We'll keep working on, we always do. It's an unforgiving league and we're still very much there. We just have to start learning from our mistakes. More players need to take more ownership. We need more leaders."

Hatters boss Paul Buckle felt it was definitely a case of two points dropped as Luton were held to a 2-2 draw at Mansfield on Sunday, writes Mike Simmonds.

Town had hit back from Ben Hutchinson's early goal to lead with fine minutes remaining courtesy of Andre Gray's double strike.

But Stags substitute Matt Green came off the bench to level the scores, volleying in after yet another free kick was pumped into the visitors box, as Buckle said: “It's two points dropped, because we weathered the storm.

“It was relentless, the entries into our 18-yard box and the game was broken up constantly by long throws.

“We actually recovered very well from a sloppy start, we should have someone in front on the long throws and they've not done the job we've asked.

“We recover and looked a very good team. We looked strong all the way through the game, other than at the very start and the very end.

“Really, the game should have been dead and buried with the chances we had, but we've let a free header in at the back post and not gone with out runners in the box. We've got to be stronger and we know that.”